Tirupati is in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is most famous for its Sri Venkateswara Temple dedicated to Vishnu, also known as Balaji in North India and Govinda in South India.

Tirupati is in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is most famous for its Sri Venkateswara Temple dedicated to Vishnu, also known as Balaji in North India and Govinda in South India. The temple is located on top of Tirumala hills, while the town is located on the foothills. The Tirumala hill has seven peaks ("Sapthagiri"), said to represent the seven hoods of Adisesha, the serpent under whose hoods Vishnu resides in Vaikuntha.

Around 50,000 pilgrims visit the temple every day. What are the rules and how you can visit this temple.

Modes of transportation:

  1. Air-land: All the major airlines and railways in India travels have a route towards tirupati. The airport and railway station are at a distance of 14 km from Tirupati. Tirupati Railway Station is well connected by trains from other parts of the country. There are time-bound trains to Tirupati from Bangalore (Seshadri Express), from Chennai (Sapthagiri Express), from Delhi (Kerala Express), from Hyderabad (Narayanadri & Padmavati Express) and from Mumbai (Nagarcoil & Kanyakumari Express).

Please note Tirupati Balaji Temple is at Tirumala is 22 km further up from Tirupati. Shared jeeps to Tirumala are available from the railway station. Buses to Tirumala at regular intervals of 5-10 minutes are available from central bus stand, which is 1-2 km from the Tirupati railway station.  You may take an auto rickshaw from Tirupati Railway Station to reach Central Bus stand. Chennai, 140 km away is the major airport near to Tirupati Balaji. Chennai airport is well connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore by regular flights. One can hire a taxi from Chennai to reach Tirupati Balaji Temple.

  1. Stay in tirupati: one can mainly stay in tirupati either at Tirupati or at Tirumala. Tirupati is about 22 km from Tirumala, where temple of Shri Balaji is located. There are hardly any private hotels in Tirumala. Neat and clean accommodation in Tirumala is provided by Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanams Trust. Stay options in Tirumala include guest houses, dormitory with locker facility, dharamshalas, mutts and Most of the stay options in Tirumala are provided by Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanams (TTD) and other religious institutions on very economical rates. Accommodation in Tirumala can be booked online at least a month in advance of your Tirupati Balaji Darshan. You can also book a room on your arrival at Tirumala by standing in a queue, it may take anywhere between 2-3 hrs.

The next best option is to book a hotel in Tirupati, which has no dearth of stay options for devotees on their way to Shri Tirupati Balaji. You may find TTD run guest houses in Tirupati as well

  1. Darshan: Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanams (TTD) offers various types of darshan facility for its devotees like

A:Dharma Darshanm
B: Seeghra Darshanm
C: Sarva Darsanam and
D: Divya Darshanm.

The darshan tickets are available at various TTD counters across India. Tirupati Balaji darshan online booking is very convenient way for a hassle free Balaji darshan at Tirumala. Darshan tickets can be booked online. These Balaji darshan options in general mean the time it will take from entering the darshan queue at Vaikuntam Queue Complex to the sanctum sanctorum, where the idol of Lord Venkata resides. It takes anywhere between 3 to 10 hrs or more depending on the number of devotees in the Balaji temple complex.

The other name Tirupati Balaji is Lord Venkata, which means destroyer of sins. Venkata is made of two words ‘Ven’ means ‘sin’ and ‘Kata’ means ‘destroyer’, thus it is believed that darshan of Lord Venkata relives one off his sins. May Lord Venkateshwara fulfill all your wishes!

  1. When not to visit: at the time of festivals the number of devoties can highly increase, leading into lot of rush and problems.
  2. Donts: Inappropriate clothing, NO Consuming of alcohol, sticktly no to Eat Meat, Egg and Fish (non-vegetarian food) Considered as Meat in Hindu religion, No Spit or litter or create any kind of nuisance and finally you are not allowed to  Carry mobile phone/camera/pager/video camera etc. while going for darshan. They are banned inside the temple (inner) sanctum.

About The Author

Archana Roy is an Indian fact-checker and news writer, writing news for Ayupp since 2014.

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